ABSTRACT
This chapter posits that contemporary organizational leaders, regardless of their functional or line responsibilities, must become HR-Minded leaders who are unswervingly focused on the strategic importance of holistically engaging and leveraging their human resources. Doing so requires that leaders focus on the following five critical leadership practices: They are Developing a Compelling Strategic Vision, Designing Engaging Jobs, Instilling a Sound Organizational Conscience, Leveraging Organizational Knowledge, and Building Change Capacity. Each of these areas of leadership practice has been addressed quite thoroughly in the contemporary literature, and increasingly so as management and organizational theory as a whole has shifted to reflect a sharper focus on the critical role of human resources in driving organizational success. HR-minded leaders facilitate the visioning process with this truth in mind, ideally involving employees throughout the organization in dialogue as part of the visioning process, thereby better ensuring both Smartness and buy-in.
